Although thousands enjoy the beauty of that states largest lake, Candlewood Lake, very few realize that its one of the largest man-made lakes in the state. Even fewer realize that when it was created, a lot of interesting things were left in place, and today still sit on the bottom of the lake. In the mid 1920s, Connecticut Light & Power Co. decided that it wanted to build a hydro-electric, and settled on the over 5,000 acres of narrow valleys in Brookfield, New Milford, Sherman, Danbury and New Fairfield. Plans were approved in 1926, and for the next two years, the massive engineering feat was undertaken by 1,400 laborers. According to historian and scuba diver Ray Crawford in this story at the Housatonic Times online, thousands of acres of woodland was cleared, the Rocky River was dammed and water was pumped over from the nearby Housatonic River to help flood the area. By 1928, the lake had been created. Apparently, in the zeal to get the project done, people who lived in the projected flood area were often forced to leave large possessions behind.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 18:24:50 +0000
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